Sermon Tone Analysis

Sermon Rough Draft

Introduction: Welcome to Advent

It is Advent 201.

This is a season that Christians mark in their calendar as a season of preparation and intentional worship.

It’s nearly a month where we set aside intentional space to reflect on the incarnation of Christ, and the reality of Emmanuel - God With Us.

For the Christian this ought to be a season of slowing down, of extra time in prayer, in reflection and meditation on God’s Word, of intentionality with others and pursuing reconciliation in light of the incarnation.

Advent if practiced well, ought to be one of those seasons of reorientation, back to center.

Personal

Why then does Advent often feel more like a Hallmark holiday than a powerful season of spiritual revival?

Why, often despite our best intentions, are our Christmas’s remembered mostly for something or someone other than Jesus, and His birth?

I want this Advent to be marked by deep and abiding joy in us as followers of Christ.

I want something new in us.

Something other worldly.

I want a mark on this Church that is undeniable and distinguished from every other Spirit out there.

I want God’s people shaken by the reality of the goodness of the gospel and stirred by the reality of the incarnation.

Context: An Advent Reorientation

The theme of our sermon series this Advent is joy.

And if there is one quality that marks Christians unique in this hyper divided, hyper politicized, hyper anxiety-ridden, world we are living in, it is the mark of Joy in the Spirit.

Today we’re going to kick this sermon series off by looking at an astounding prayer, that was prayed by an astounding woman.

This prayer throughout Church history has been called The Magnificat.

As I read and studied this text this week, I was regularly brought to a place of worship.

Where I no longer wanted to write a sermon, but just be with the Lord.

I pray it accomplishes the same for you this morning.

Three insights from Mary’s Prayer that might lead us towards an Advent Reorientation this Year.

Reading

This prayer has been called the Magnificat.

It goes like this:

“And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.”

(Luke 1:46–56, ESV)

Move 1: Mary Had a High Vision of God

The first need is that we need a Greater Vision of God.

When you think of god or when you pray to god, what words come to mind.

The reality is that one of the reasons we don’t worship with this kind of enthusiasm and hunger, is because our thoughts of God are far too small.

But to listen Mary prays.

Listen to what comes out of her mouth when she reflects on God.

Verse 48: “He has looked upon the humble estate of his servant.”

She’s recalling 1 Samuel 1:11 the promises of Scripture that God looks down on our lives.

He is a watching God, engaged meaningfully, not distant and removed.

Verse 49: “He who is mighty.”

Taken from Psalm 89:8.

His might signifies His great strength and power.

The original manuscripts reads “the mighty one.”

When she considers God she goes to His sheer strength and power and might.

Verse 49: “Holy is His name.”

Taken from Isaiah 57:15.

We could preach a whole sermon on this description of God.

The word Holy has two connotations.

First it means “Set Apart.”

God is set apart.

He is too wonderful to describe.

His works are too marvelous to comprehend.

He is utterly other.

But the word Holy also describes Personal Righteousness.

God is perfect in His glory.

His being is of perfect moral beauty because quite literally what we call morality in this realm is an expression of His very being.

Verse 50: “His mercy is for those who fear Him.” From Deuteronomy 5:10.

God is merciful.

Mercy is when you don’t get the wickedness you deserve.

We are told in scripture that God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

God is not quick to give His anger, rather He extends mercy to those who don’t deserve it.

But He is also to be feared.

He is not to spoken of flippantly, for He alone holds the keys to life and death, eternity is in His hand.

Verse 51: “He has shown strength.”

Again Mary quoting from Psalm 89:10.

This strength is describing God’s sovereignty.

He works in and behind the affairs of mankind.

There is not one stray molecule in all of God’s perfect creation.

Each molecule flows in the path to which has been assigned and to which it is sustained by God.

He is strong and sovereign.

Verse 52: “He brings down the mighty.”

Quoted from Job 5:11.

Mary is recalling in her worship that no authority or power rules, reigns, or has dominion on this Earth but that which God permits.

The mighty fall at God’s command.

And others rise at His command as well.

Verse 53: “He fills the hungry with good things.”

Quoted from Psalm 34:10.

God cares deeply for those in brokenness.

Your plight is not evidence that God has abandoned you.

Rather in your plight, in your poverty, in your hunger, in your need turn to God, for He gives good things to those who seek Him.

The promise here is not one of prosperity, but one of having the deepest needs of your soul satisfied.

Verse 54: “He remembers his promises to Abraham.”

From Psalm 132:11.

God’s Word is true.

His promises are true.

Not one letter of God’s Word will fail or has ever failed.

Which means the promises of God to you, through the Scriptures, stand.

You can rest on them, you can build a life on them.

Here is a young teenage girl who’s soul magnifies the Lord.

She has a vision of God that is ten times bigger than most in this room.

Her knowledge of God has created a vision in her mind that is captivating of her God and savior.

He has become her all.

He is greater than the most beautiful poetry.

He is more beautiful than the most soul-stirring artwork.

He is Holy and Sovereign and to be feared.

We wonder why we have a hard time worshipping, and making the main thing the main thing at Advent.